Formula 1 Teams Look at Buying Series Stake, Ecclestone Says

Teams including Ferrari, the oldest and most successful in the sport, considered bidding for Formula One’s commercial rights from ruling body Federation Internationale de l’Automobile in 1995 before F-1 Chief Executive Officer Bernie Ecclestone acquired them, and had discussions about starting a breakaway series as recently as 2011. Photographer: Clive Mason/Getty Images

April 10 (Bloomberg) -- A group of Formula One teams is
“having a conversation” about buying a stake in the auto
racing series whose biggest shareholder is CVC Capital Partners
Ltd., F-1 Chief Executive Officer Bernie Ecclestone said.

Ecclestone, who owns a 5 percent stake in the business,
said he’s not part of the talks and didn’t identify the teams
involved.

“We’ll see what the group comes up with,” Ecclestone, 83,
said in a phone interview yesterday. “Maybe they will get
enough together to buy shares.”

The move comes as Ecclestone prepares to stand trial on
bribery charges in Munich, and as lawmakers in Norway examine
whether the state-owned investment fund broke its own rules in
buying a stake in the sport.

A spokesman for Ferrari SpA’s team declined to comment.
Mercedes and Red Bull team officials didn’t immediately return
e-mails seeking comment. A CVC official didn’t immediately
return a phone message.

Teams including Ferrari, the oldest and most successful in
the sport, considered bidding for Formula One’s commercial
rights from ruling body Federation Internationale de
l’Automobile in 1995 before Ecclestone acquired them, and had
discussions about starting a breakaway series as recently as
2011.

The biggest teams, whose owners include energy-drink maker
Red Bull GmbH and luxury carmaker Daimler AG’s Mercedes, have
since signed bilateral agreements with CVC to remain in the
sport through 2020. Ecclestone said he didn’t know who had
initiated the latest discussions.

The talks are “just a conversation” and “may not go
anywhere,” Ecclestone said.

Trial in Germany

He is scheduled to go on trial on April 24 charged with
bribery and inciting former Bayerische Landesbank executive
Gerhard Gribkowsky to commit breach of trust in the 2005 sale of
Formula One to CVC by the German bank.

Ecclestone testified in 2011 he was the victim of a
sophisticated shakedown by Gribkowsky and denied bribery.